Cuckoo (Kindred Book 3) (12 page)

The rest of the group were happy to move on; they’d gotten all the answers they would get from Brodie today. “I’ll set the system to monitor his email and search facial recognition until we get a hit,” Tuck said.

“Zara and I can go through the paperwork that’s upstairs,” Thad said.

She appreciated the doctor’s support, and grunt work was all she was good for given their current situation. “I’ll take his computer,” Zave said. “When you’re done, Swift, we’ll go hunting.”

“Sounds good,” Tuck said and everyone began to rise.

The group began to disband and she crossed to intercept Brodie. “What are you going to do?”

“Clean the rifles,” he said, brushing his thumb across her chin. “Always gets me in the mood for a fight.”

Thad was a lot of fun. Working with someone who made jokes and was easy about showing his emotions was refreshing in comparison to what she’d been surrounded with of late. She and her workmate spread out in the dining room they’d once all eaten in to go through all of the files from Grant’s office.

Every once in a while, Tuck came in with a pile of printouts from the laptop and added them to their in-tray. As he and Zave pulled more data from Grant’s computer they brought it up for a second look, since the two techies were tasked with retrieving, not analyzing, the data.

“You’ve held up well, given all that’s happened since you joined the Kindred,” Thad said, putting a file into the done pile.

“It’s been tough,” she said, still reading. “You and Zave always show up right on time.”

“Brodie’s the only one Zave trusts,” Thad said, picking up another pile of papers to pull them over to him.

Thad was always so chipper, but she saw the flicker of disappointment he tried to hide by turning his head down. She could only imagine the kind of missions the cousins had been on together and how each one would have affected familial politics.

“Zave trusts you,” she said, feeling the need to be discreet about her reassurance. “You’re almost always together.”

The length of time they spent together and the proximity of their homes made her think the men had made a conscious decision to be close to each other. It had always perplexed her how they enjoyed each other so much because their personalities were polar opposites. She’d never inquired about the details of their relationship with Brodie. Other things always came up before they had the time to delve too deep into the particulars of his family.

Just as always happened, something got in the way of her gleaning more from the doctor. Tuck came in, and she expected more documents for them to trawl through. Except, this time when he got to the table, he had no papers. Propping both arms on the back of the black scroll top chair, Tuck bent to rest his forehead on them for a second.

Tuck was a go-with-the-flow type of guy, who rarely got ruffled. Either he was just tired or they’d found something serious enough to affect the aloof hacker and that put her on alert.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He looked up. “We got a hit.”

“That’s great,” she said, maintaining her restraint until she found out why he seemed so conflicted. “Was it the email or did you find him? You can’t have located all Winter Chill locations yet, can you?”

“I’m not talking about Saint’s computer. I’m talking about the facial rec. It’s Kahlil,” Tuck said. “We’ve got him coming out of CI.”

Her request for the search had proved fruitful, but tracking down Kahlil at the company responsible for Game Time was unexpected, and she understood Tuck’s reticence. “It’s after nine at night,” she said. Confusion merged with concern when she recalled Grant’s after-hours meeting with Kahlil. Leaving her seat, she snatched her purse from the floor. “I have to get over there.”

“Whoa! Whoa,” Tuck said, catching her shoulders when she tried to hightail it past him. “CI isn’t your racket anymore. What are you gonna do after you rock up there?”

“I…” He might be right, but that didn’t mean that she should sit here and let Kahlil strike up a relationship with Cuckoo, who until now hadn’t known anything about Game Time.

“Have another bitch off with the new boss?” Tuck asked. “She’s not gonna tell you what Kahlil said.”

There was still a chance that the two hadn’t met. Kahlil could’ve shown up looking for her and left when he was told she wasn’t there. If he’d been told she no longer worked there, then he may have spoken to Cuckoo instead and that could lead to any number of potentially catastrophic outcomes. They couldn’t have Cuckoo knowing about Game Time or searching for Winter Chill; the Italian couldn’t track it down before they did. The Kindred had to stay ahead, knowledge being their only advantage.

Kahlil and Cuckoo could’ve been working together all along. If they had been then the Kindred had played into their hands. “If she’s working with him then we gave them everything they needed when we anointed her queen at CI. The game’s already over.”

Zara couldn’t argue the notion that she was the best person to get answers from Cuckoo, not after their showdown in Grant’s office. The need for debate vanished when Brodie came into the dining room. He noticed that she wasn’t working and was in the clutches of his best friend while his cousin observed.

His scrutiny became a scowl. “What?” Brodie asked, focused on Tuck’s hand on her shoulder.

“What’s pissing you off, beau? That Tuck might be hurting me or that he might be making a move?”

Tuck released her and retreated with his hands up. For all the times Tuck had bailed her out and saved her from danger, she hadn’t broached the topic of his personal life with him. Through Brodie, Zara knew that Tuck had broken up with the woman he loved after Art’s death. Tuck would never hurt her or seduce her, and she knew Brodie knew that. His preoccupation was irrational and primal. He just didn’t like anyone getting too close to her.

“I’m pissed that there’s panic on your face,” he said, closing in. “What’s going on?”

“Kahlil just left CI,” she said. “He has to be working with Cuckoo. You’ve put her in the perfect place to control Winter Chill. We have to go in there and stop—”

This time, Brodie was the one to get in her way when she set the exit in her sights. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said, seizing her neck and pulling her back.

“But someone has to—”

He raised his voice. “You remember what happened the last time you busted up one of Kahlil’s late night meetings in that place?”

His features set to stone when she didn’t shrink. “You kissed me.”

That wasn’t what he was getting at, but that didn’t prevent his eyes from falling to her mouth. It was true that the night she’d first heard of Kahlil ended with Brodie kissing her for the first time. But he was referring to her being accosted by Kahlil’s men in the parking garage when he’d had to swoop in and save her ass.

Reminding her of the danger Kahlil and his people could pose was supposed to scare her into staying here at the manor where she was safe. Being facetious soured Brodie’s already sensitive mood.

“That’s not what I fucking meant,” he growled.

“But you did, do you remember?” she said, looping her arms around him to bunch her fists in his shirt at his back. Of course he did, but his scowl didn’t fade. “With you at my back, I’m invincible.”

Grabbing her wrists, he pulled her arms away and walked her backward until she pressed into the table. “And in this house, you’re untouchable. You’re safest here, so this is where you’ll stay.” He used to tell her that the safest place was on her back and under him, but flirting with him now wouldn’t gain her any brownie points or result in mutual orgasms, not when there was so much work to be done. He let her go and backed away. “Stay with Tuck,” Brodie said to her. “Wait until you hear from me.”

The pals exchanged one of their secret looks, and Brodie sprinted from the room. Tuck was an ally, but his loyalty to Brodie trumped his loyalty to her. If Brodie gave him an order then he was going to follow it. She needed her own secret ally and preferably one without a penis.

When she was in need of a female perspective, there was only one woman she trusted: Bess, Art’s sister, Thad’s mom. Bess knew about the Kindred, although she didn’t travel with them and so probably didn’t know too many of the gorier details.

Brodie was still out. Tuck and Thad were still working on their tasks, but Zara had taken a break and stolen a few moments of privacy to come down to the security room and talk to Bess via secure video link.

Zara had relayed what was distracting her to the patient real-time image being beamed from the other side of the country while hoping that Bess would support her point of view. As ever, Bess smiled and listened, but she hadn’t been as empathetic as Zara might have liked her to be.

“So I’m just supposed to sit here and pretend it’s okay that he’s going to confront his ex?” Zara asked after hearing Bess’ perspective. “I know what he’s like when his temper heats up.”

The others were focused enough on their research that Zara was confident they wouldn’t be interrupted, at least until there was something significant to report. During Brodie’s dark period of grief, Zara had spent a lot of time talking to and consoling Aunt Bess, who lived most of her life in Zave’s island home.

Bess was calm and warm. Zara could tell she was used to staying neutral. Offering an ear to whichever member of the Kindred needed to vent, Bess was the non-judgmental matriarch who had no interest in vying for a top spot. She had the respect of all of the men and knew enough that no one had to watch what they said around her. On some nights, sitting in the security room talking to Bess was like sitting in the confessional.

“You trust him and he is protecting you,” Bess said, just the sound of her mothering voice was soothing. “I know it’s hard, but you’ve been through plenty together. He loves you. You don’t think he’s going to betray you and be intimate with her.”

It had been a long time since she’d had a mother figure in her life. Even when her mother was still alive, she’d been sick so often that long, heartfelt conversations were rare. Once she’d begun to bond with Bess, after Art’s death, Zara had latched onto Bess’ encouragement and acceptance. “No,” Zara said, huffing and dropping her chin into her hand. “But I don’t trust her, what if she hurts him? Or manipulates him into doing something we’re all going to regret?”

“Brodie isn’t a man who has regrets, you know that. You said he took Zave with him, they’ll keep each other safe. It’s priority one.”

Zara knew Brodie didn’t mention regrets. But he’d replayed that day in the Atlas warehouse through his mind’s eye on a loop, thinking of ways he could have gotten them all out of there alive. Guilt was a large part of his struggle to come to terms with losing Art.

Bess was right that watching each other’s backs was a priority, but Zave wasn’t a marksman and hadn’t contributed much in terms of physical force to their previous missions. She didn’t know how he’d hold up in a fight or how far he’d be willing to go. Brodie was happy to beat the crap out of men who deserved it, and he’d have no hesitation about using fatal force if he needed to. Tuck had once told her that no one was full Kindred until they’d killed. Somehow, Zave didn’t seem like the sort to get his hands dirty, not out of any righteousness, just because it would be inconvenient and taxing.

Zara wasn’t as worried about their relationship as she was frustrated by how quickly Brodie had benched her. “I don’t like it when he treats me with kid gloves.”

“He wants to protect the woman he loves. You can’t fault him for that. And you’ve abandoned him twice in the last month, so you can’t blame him for wanting to keep you at home either.”

Like she was some sort of disobedient filly, Zara sighed and looked into Bess’ soft face with its generous laughter lines and crow’s feet. She wasn’t as keen as Art or as reserved as the younger generation. Knowing Bess helped her to understand where Thad got his easy smile and positive attitude.

Brodie had done enough chasing. It made sense that he didn’t want to do any more. “I guess not.”

“You know that if you need to get away, you can come and visit us here. We’d love to have you for as long as you want to stay.”

“Thank you, that’s kind of you.” It was, but a vacation wasn’t much of a priority.

“Where is that spirit?” Bess asked, adding some pep to her voice. “My brother told me you weren’t scared of anything.”

“I’m not scared.”

“Of losing Brodie?”

She conceded that with a nod of her brows as her head tilted. Identifying her grievances was the only way to address them. “It’s embarrassing,” Zara said. “I’m not worried about losing our relationship. But I guess that what Cuckoo said is still bugging me. She was right, when Brodie was in a pinch, he called her.”

“And that insulted you?”

“He didn’t consider letting me deal with Cuckoo and Kahlil tonight. How can I be a vital part of the Kindred if Brodie can’t rely on me?”

“You kept him alive for three months, he knows you’re capable.”

“Of making soup and picking up after him?” she asked. “I’m not his mother.”

“So this is about sex?”

Growling in frustration, she pushed the chair back into a brief recline and ran her hands into her hair. “It’s not about sex. We have plenty of sex.”

“You don’t know what to think, do you, dearie?” Bess asked. Sorrow took her over, and Zara leaned forward again, bending to rest her head on her arms when she crossed them on the desk.

“He’s been gone for hours,” Zara said.

Worry for Brodie made her itchy, it made her fidget and over think. She just needed him back with her to give her a grounding. She wouldn’t be able to rest until he was with her. He’d be pissed at her for checking up on him, but she was pissed at him for dismissing her, so as far as Zara was concerned, after this, they’d be even.

“Don’t get yourself into a tizzy,” Bess said.

Zara turned her head to glance at Bess’ image and read the time in the corner. “It’s after midnight. Hold on.”